Lux Lucet

Yesterday I received a comment from Mark Looy directing me to an article in the Louisville Courier-Journal. The article, written by Mr. Looy, explained the State of Kentucky’s involvement in the Ark Encounter project. Regarding the implication in an earlier Courier-Journal article that the Kentucky would be giving a large tax grant to Ark Encounter, Looy commented,

“Even if the Ark fails to meet projections, there is no risk to the state. Contrary to what The Courier-Journal has implied, taxpayers will not help pay for the construction and operation of the Ar. The only people to pay taxes related to operating the Ark will be the visitors through sales tax paid at the attraction (e.g., on tickets and food). The state will rebate a portion of that sales tax to the Ark Encounter LLC based on meeting attendance-performance marks. The incentives are not a grant from Kentucky.” [Emphasis mine]

There’s a big difference between giving the Ark Encounter a rebate of the tax revenue generated by the park, revenue which never would have been generated were it not for the construction of the attraction, and forking over tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money to a privately run company. Answers in Genesis to my knowledge has never accepted tax grants, and I’m glad to hear that this is the case with Ark Encounter.

So this raises the question, if Ark Encounter is not feeding at the taxpayer trough, what real objection do the folks at the Louisville Courier -Journal, the Cincinnati Enquirer and other organs of opinion have to the construction of a privately financed project by people who have never taken a dime of taxpayer money and have a track record of producing impressive attendance results at the Creation Museum?